HMS Selene (P254)

HMS Selene (P254)
HMS Selene
Career
Class and type:	S class submarine
Name:	HMS Selene
Builder:	Cammell Laird & Co Limited, Birkenhead
Laid down:	16 April 1943
Launched:	24 April 1944
Commissioned:	14 July 1944
Fate:	sold for breaking up 1961
General characteristics
Displacement:	814–872 tons surfaced 990 tons submerged
Length:	217 ft (66 m)
Beam:	23 ft 6 in (7.16 m)
Draught:	11 ft (3.4 m)
Speed:	14.75 knots surfaced 8 knots submerged
Complement:	48 officers and men
Armament:	6 x forward 21-inch torpedo tubes, one aft 13 torpedoes one three-inch gun (four-inch on later boats) one 20 mm cannon three .303-calibre machine gun

File:SELENE badge-1-.jpg

HMS Selene was an S class submarine of the Royal Navy, and part of the Third Group built of that class. She was built by Cammell Laird & Co Limited, Birkenhead and launched on 24 April 1944. So far she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name Selene.

She spent most of the Second World War serving in the Far East, where she sank five Japanese sailing vessels and three coasters, and damaged another sailing vessel and coaster. She survived the war and in the early 1950s was modified to become a fast unarmed underwater target to train anti-submarine personnel. Her torpedo tubes were covered to streamline her hull, and the three external tubes (two bow, one stern) were removed, as was her gun. Her bridge superstructure was reduced to little more than a blister with a small cockpit in it, and she had only a single periscope. She operated with the Second Submarine Squadron at Portland throughout the 1950s. She was sold, arriving at Gateshead on 6 June 1961 for breaking up.

References

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.